please don't reset
by lonelypotato-kun
Summary: Sans was bewildered when he realized that the human who emerged from the RUINS wasn't Frisk. In fact, this whole timeline was messed up; Papyrus was admitted to the Royal Guard, King Asgore went missing, and Flowey became... nice? As he and the new human attempt to find the answers to their questions, Sans slowly realized that there was someone he had to protect at all costs.
1. Chapter 1

Sans sat at his post, casually drinking from a bottle of ketchup as he awaited the human's arrival. He knew that, any moment now, a certain someone would burst out from the gates of the Ruins. Whether they would be a pure, innocent child or a bloodthirsty murderer… well, he was going to have to find out for himself.

He leaned back, stretched a bit, and let out a long sigh.

"well, its about time."

The skeleton trudged off in the direction of the RUINS, not knowing the surprises that awaited him.

A figure peeked out from behind the huge doors of the RUINS. They poked the snow at their feet and rubbed their fingers together. "Maybe I should've brought a coat…"

The human stepped out into the open, taking in the new view. They didn't know that there would be so many trees underground, and they hadn't in the least expected there to be snow. Awed, they continued on forward through the straight pathway. The trees towered above, giving the human an uneasy feeling. As they trudged on, they noticed a presence lurking nearby. Feeling a sense of discomfort and apprehensiveness, the human began to pick up the pace, nearly tripping over a sturdy piece of wood. They could catch glimpses of a dark figure following them.

Reaching a bridge, the human stopped. Someone had constructed bars to keep intruders out, but…

The mystery figure had caught up. Shivers went down the spine of the human as a low voice hummed, "HUMAN."

The voice continued, "DONT YOU KNOW HOW TO GREET A NEW PAL?"

The human gulped, completely rooted to their position. Toriel had warned them about the dangers of the Underground, but still…

"TURN AROUND AND SHAKE MY HAND."

The human obeyed, slowly facing the monster, reaching for their hand.

A loud farting noise was then produced as the mysterious figure laughed.

"hehe… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick." the skeleton chuckled, "it's ALWAYS funn-"

A mixed expression was plastered over the skeleton's face as his smiled faltered a bit. The human… the human was…

The human wasn't Frisk.

With large brown eyes and rosy cheeks, the small figure looked up at Sans. He hadn't noticed it before, but this new human was slightly taller than Frisk (maybe by a couple of inches). Her chocolate hair fell down to her shoulders, and she wore a comfy blue sweater and purple tights. Sans stared at the human, unable to respond.

"A… skeleton?"

Sans snapped out of his stupor, giving the human a nervous laugh. "yeah, im a skeleton. the name's sans…" He quickly shoved his hands in his blue sweater. What was going on? Where's Frisk? And more importantly…

"did you meet another kid while you were coming over?" Sans asked.

The girl's eyes widened and she hesitated for a moment, almost as if she was contemplating something, before shaking her head. Sans sighed, and patted the human's head, "thanks kiddo."

The human shook her head violently, then pointed an accusing finger at the monster. "I'm not a kid!" She huffed angrily, "I'm 19!" Sans stared at the supposedly 19 year old girl and tried to suppress his laughter.

"yeah, real funny kiddo. you're a pretty _humerus_ person."

"I'M BEING SERIOU- Oh. My. God." The human pouted, "Did. You. Just."

Sans' grin spread a little wider. He then noticed that the human, too, was smiling.

"Oh ho ho ho ho," she laughed, "Ohhhh you did NOT just challenge me to a pun-off. I'm, like, the Queen of Puns." she bragged, puffing out her chest for dramatic effect.

Sans shrugged, "im pretty darn good at puns. in fact, ive got a ton of them in store…" he paused for a moment.

"a skele-ton."

The girl was about to say something when Sans suddenly remembered that his brother would be passing by any minute now.

"im actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but… y'know… i dont really care about capturing anybody." At this point, the human let out a little sigh of relief.

"now my brother, papyrus… he's a human-hunting FANATIC." The girl's eyes widened again, and Sans couldn't help but be amused at her expressions. She was like an open book.

"hey, actually, I think that's him over there." The human's eyes grew bigger once more as she whisked around to check. At this point, Sans was doing his best not to suppress his laughter. This human was just so expressive that it almost became comical.

"i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone." The two waltzed through the bars and stopped at a wooden station. There was an out of place lamp there, too.

"quick, behind that conveniently shaped lam-" Sans began, then stopped. "uh, actually, go hide behind my post. hurry it up, he's almost here."

The human scurried away and ducked behind the station.

"SANS! SANS!" A voice screeched from far away, and the loud thumping of boots drawing near. The smaller skeleton looked at his brother in surprise. "sup, bro?"

"SANS, UNDYNE FINALLY ALLOWED ME TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!" squealed a tall, thin skeleton who bore a small red cape.

Sans stepped back in shock. What's happening? This wasn't how it was supposed to go. "paps, hey, what do you mean by that?"

"UNDYNE FINALLY LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL LEAVE FOR THE CASTLE TODAY!" The skeleton beamed pridefully, placing his hands on his chest. Sans began to sweat nervously (how do skeletons even do that?) and gave a small shrug. "congrats, i guess? when are you… leaving?"

By now, Papyrus's smile had become brighter than the sun. "RIGHT AFTER I PACK UP ALL MY SPAGHETTI! THEN I WILL BE ON MY WAY!"

Sans felt glad that his brother was finally getting into the Royal Guard (after all, it was practically Papyrus's lifelong dream), but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel very… nervous about the whole matter. Why did Undyne allow him to be admitted into the Royal Guard? She would never do such a thing, seeing as how his brother couldn't even hurt a fly. Something about this timeline felt very, very wrong.

Before he knew it, Papyrus had already sped off into the distance, laughing "NYEH HEH HEH". Sans stood there, dumfounded. For the first time in forever, he didn't know how to respond to a situation.

A small, quiet voice brought him back to reality. "C-Can I come out now?"

Sans turned to face the human, whose teeth were chattering uncontrollably. The skeleton walked over to her and took off his jacket. He handed it to the freezing human, who gladly accepted his offer and quickly put it on.

"T-thanks," she sniffed, "I was getting _chilled to the bone_ out here."

Sans snickered, "Good one."

The human gave him a feeble smile, "I thought I told you I was the Pun Master," she giggled softly, then sneezed. Sans sat down onto the snow, facing the human. "i don't think i've had the pleasure of knowing your name yet?" he asked.

"I… I don't know my name." she replied.

"ah. that… sucks."

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"You can give me one, you know?" the human muttered, "You can just give me a name. I'm fine with that."

Sans' smile grew wider. "are you sure about that?"

"Pleeeease don't let it be a pun." She mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

**NOTE: Okay guys, I kind of need your opinion for this one. So basically, I originally planned to write the story so that the girl and Sans end up developing a little bit of feelings for each other (just a tad). And now, I'm not sure if I should write it so that they like each other or just stay as friends. So if you don't mind sparing a couple of minutes of your time to go on my poll to vote, that'd be really helpful.**

 **:3**

 **Thanks and enjoy!**

Sans sat on his bed, staring mindlessly at the mountain of socks piled up near the corner of his room. There were so many things that were unsettling about this timeline. He was especially worried about Papyrus, but after Undyne reassured him over the phone about guaranteeing his brother's safety, the skeleton felt a little more at ease.

 _"Oh, and one last thing."_ She had said before hanging up, " _Be on alert and watch out for any humans. Asgore's missing."_

The skeleton sighed, plopping down onto the bed and closing his eyes. He hadn't been this confused in a long time.

A loud crash downstairs disrupted his thoughts, followed by the sound of a certain someone panicking as they attempted to clean up the mess. Sans got out of bed to see what was happening.

"Oh shoot, oh no, uhm, uh, ohhhh okay, uhhh," the human frantically ran into the kitchen only to come out screaming with her sweater on fire.

It took the two a while to get everything under control. The kitchen was messed up beyond recovery and the smell of smoke drifted through the air. The human sat down on the couch, looking embarrassed and deflated. Sans seated himself next to her.

"well clover, you're on _fire_ today" Sans chuckled. The two of them had decided on the name Clover earlier that day. The human said that, hopefully, it'd bring her good luck. Clearly, it wasn't working out too well for her.

"Shutupohmygoshgeez," Clover mumbled, pouting.

Sans laughed at the girl's reaction. "what were you trying to make in there anyways? i didn't know that anyone could mess up that bad at cooking other than undyne and papyrus."

The human buried her face in her hands. "I felt bad for imposing on your hospitality. You let me stay at your house and everything, so I thought I'd make something for you as thanks…" She let out a long, exasperated sigh. "That didn't work out too well, huh? In fact, I messed up your house even more…"

Sans gave a small shrug. "hey, it's no big deal. i've had to deal with papyrus blowing up the kitchen quite a couple of times." He leaned back a bit more into the comfortable couch. "it's gotten so much quieter since he's left…"

Clover gave Sans a warm smile.

"You care for your brother a lot, don't you?"

"yea."

"You know, sometimes it seems like… you're afraid of something."

Sans turned to face the human in surprise. "i am?" he asked, beginning to doubt his ability to conceal his emotions. Clover nodded.

"I don't know, it's just that… well, let's just call it a women's intuition."

The skeleton snorted. "that's a first," he retorted. Before the conversation could go on any further, a deep rumbling noise escaped from the human's stomach. She looked down in embarrassment, her face flushed bright red.

Sans chucked and held out his hand. "dinner's on me, kiddo. come on, i know a shortcut to grillby's."

Clover gained an interest in Grillby the second she laid eyes on him. She had never seen a monster completely made out of fire, and it definitely piqued her interest. Sans greeted the other customers, then sat down and patted at the chair next to him. Clover promptly followed, plopping down onto her seat, and then began bombarding the poor fire monster with questions. Sans looked at the human girl with amusement as she attempted to take off Grillby's glasses.

"What would… you… ACK! –be having today?!"

Sans turned to face the human. "i'll have whatever she's having."

At this point, Clover had lost interest in swiping Grillby's glasses and sat back down. "What's on the menu?" she asked cautiously. The human silently made a prayer, hoping that it wouldn't be snail-related.

"burgers and fries." Sans replied.

Clover was surprised at the surprisingly "human" foods they had. "I'll take fries."

"i'll have the same."

In a couple of minutes, a crispy plate of fries was laid in front of the human, which she inhaled in a few bites. Sans took this opportunity to ask her a few questions.

"so, how did you end up here anyways?"

"I fell down, dummy."

"not that. why'd you climb mt. ebott?"

Clover's face darkened. "I… I was hiking." Sans began to suspect her.

"you didn't see a kid while you were down here, did you?"

"…"

"how about a talking flower?"

"…"

The skeleton sighed. It seems that he wasn't going to get any answers out of the human for a while. He closed his eyes.

"one last question, then."

The monster reopened his eyes. It was the color of darkness and hatred; emotions which had both, since a long time ago, etched its way into his heart.

"did you kill anyone yet?"

The human stopped eating her fries and turned to face Sans, unfazed by his indirect threat. She let out a forced laugh. "Hey Sans," she whispered, leaning closer to him.

"Do you know about someone named Chara?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: Okay, so… I'm going to be referencing Frisk as a guy from now on. And here's a brief summary of what's going on so far, just to prevent any misunderstandings…**

 **SUMMARY of the story so far: The human who came out from the ruins this time wasn't Frisk, much to Sans' surprise. In fact, it was a tiny girl who, claiming to be 19 despite her small stature, seems to be a person with a good nature. However, ever since the girl's arrival, the timeline seemed to be going out of whack. First of all, Papyrus was admitted into the Royal Guard and King Asgore has been missing. After giving the girl a name (Clover), the two head off to Grillby's to eat. However, there may be more to Clover than what meets the eye, as she seems to possess some knowledge about a certain someone named Chara.**

 **And just a friendly reminder: please go onto my poll and vote for what you think about Sans and Clover's relationship. Thanks~!**

Sans fell out of his chair with a loud "THUNK". The restaurant suddenly became hushed, and for a few seconds, nobody made a sound. Grillby came out from behind his counter, looking at the skeleton with concern.

Suddenly, Clover began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Ohhhhh my gosh, dude, you should've seen your face just now!" she hollered, clutching at her sides. Sans stood up, giving a nervous chuckle.

"h-ha… yeah, you really got me there, huh…?" he replied, attempting to regain his composure.

The other customers, thinking that it was just an accident, returned to their busy conversations. Sans' suspicions were now confirmed. This girl definitely knew something that he didn't. He grabbed her hand and dragged her outside.

Clover became flustered. "W-wait! We didn't pay for the meal yet!"

"grillby'll put it on my tab."

* * *

Sans slammed the door to his house shut, and whirled around to face the human. His pupils, now flaming blue, intimidated the human.

"Sans? What's wrong?"

"tell me everything. is this some sort of trap? are you the one who altered the timeline? did you have anything to do with asgore's disappearance?"

Clover raised her arms up defensively. "H-hey, slow down. I can explain-"

" _There's no need to be so rough with the human, y'know?"_ a cheerful voice interrupted.

Sans turned around to face the intruder. A large flower with six yellow petals appeared from the ground. It was smiling.

"Flowey!" Clover exclaimed, an expression of delight on her face.

"H'owdy! It's been a while, human! Did you remember your name yet?"

"Ah, no… But I've decided to be called Clover for the time being."

"I see. Well, aren't you in a sticky situation! Seems like the skeleton has found out already!" the flower remarked.

"what do you mean?" Sans growled.

Flowey grinned. "That girl. She's an irregularity. Somehow, the timeline got screwed up and she came into existence. And because of her very existence…"

"papyrus has been allowed into the royal guard, asgore's missing, and for some strange reason, frisk doesn't exist," Sans finished.

The flower hesitated for a moment. "Yes… in a way. But the thing is… **I'm not the original 'Flowey' anymore. It appears that many of the others have been altered too, personality-wise**. For some strange reason, I have been… "programmed" to guide this human. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but it's just a gut feeling of mine to help this girl. And also, you're wrong about one thing."

A wave of fear washed over the flower and it shuddered just thinking about it. "Frisk DOES exist. He's alive. And he's here underground." Flowey claimed, his voice shaky.

Sans eyed the plant suspiciously.

"that's impossible. no one else came through the RUINS other than clover. there's no way he would've passed through from there. i would've known."

Flowey sighed. "There IS one other way to enter the Underground, isn't there?"

Sans pupils dilated.

"the barrier," he hissed.

The flower nodded. "Yes. Though I don't know how he managed to do it. You supposedly needed 7 human souls to break the barrier, but…"

Sans began to piece the puzzles together:

 _Frisk came through the barrier somehow, which might've had something to do with Asgore's disappearance. There doesn't seem to be much panic in the Underground yet, which suggests that the Royal Guard must be keeping things under control._

Beads of sweat began to form on top of Sans' forehead.

 _The Royal Guard…_

 _Papyrus…_

Sans recalled Undyne's warning.

 _"Be on alert and watch out for any humans. Asgore's missing."_

That's strange. If something dangerous was occurring at the castle, why would Undyne let Papyrus join the Royal Guard? He couldn't even hurt a fly, let alone kill a human. He would definitely get hurt if he went. Undyne knows about this, so why—

 _" It appears that many of the others have been altered too, personality-wise."_

Sans' knees where shaking. He began to run out the door.

"He finally figured it out." Flowey mumbled.

"Figured what out?" asked Clover, who was still in shock.

"You better go after him. He's gonna need all the help he can get."


End file.
